Fatigue tops post-covid complaints, say docs

MUMBAI: Bhandup resident Prabhavati Nilve wakes up at 6.30 am, but it takes another two hours for her to gather the energy to get out of bed. “The weakness irritates me,” said the 50-year-old who had tested positive for Covid-19 in January, but still struggles from the lingering after-effects of the viral infection.

Nilve, like hundreds of Covid-19 patients battling the longterm impact of the virus, find themselves at the post-covid outpatient departments (OPDS) often with one question: Why is my body not feeling all right?

The second wave in Mumbai may have settled but post-covid OPDS continue to be busy. The HT met Nilve on Thursday at the Fortis Hospital’s post-covid-opd in Mulund, the first such clinic that opened in the city last August. A typical day at the OPD sees patients from across the city, who were admitted for Covid treatment but require post-covid rehabilitation.

An IT manager in a pharmaceutical firm, Nilve was admitted to Surana Hospital in Chembur for five days after she tested positive for Covid. Doctors told her that the infection had spread to her lungs and she was put on a cocktail of drugs including steroids, antibiotics and Remdesivir. After discharge, she felt better, but her sugar levels and blood pressure had shot up, for which she had to be put on medication. In May, her palpitations, weakness and shortness of breath increased so much that she had to be admitted to a local nursing home. “My family doctor told me that the symptoms I was experiencing were all a part of the postcovid effect,” said Nilve who was among the six patients who visited the OPD. This was her second visit to the OPD.

According to infectious disease consultant Dr Kirti Sabnis who examined Nilve, nearly 30% of patients complain of severe, debilitating fatigue, unable to resume their daily activities... In some cases, the symptoms persist for two to six months. “It plays on their mind, often making them anxious,” said Sabnis.

“After Covid, patients generally have low immunity which makes them susceptible to other viral infections. We, therefore, recommend them to take the flu and pneumonia shots,” she said.

Another patient, Sunil Kumar Bandhu, 58, who came from Kharghar, was recovering from a bout of viral infection. He had contracted Covid-19 in August last year and was on his fourth follow up at the OPD. An avid walker, Bandhu had recovered well considering that he had spent 24 days in the hospital on oxygen support battling Covid, 10 of them in the ICU. “We have observed that people who have been actively exercising recover better. The lung patches also resolve,” said Sabnis.